Quick Jump

Generation One – Tyler : Chapter Ten

by ashpie88

Chapter Ten: Into The Fire

Being married didn’t change anything about our lives, really. We seemed more in love, but everything else went on as usual. Keeli did laundry on a daily basis, our family seemed to go through laundry faster than anything.

Before long it was little Piper’s birthday. We bought a cake and had a small family celebration. Piper was very excited when she saw her cake, of course she also thought that she would be the only one who would get to eat it.

Piper had bloomed into quite the beautiful young lady. She seemed more grown up for her age. I wondered if it just wasn’t the world around us that was causing the maturity. She was very smart, but we learned from an early age that she had a strong fear of water. We couldn’t get her to take a bath without one of us having to be right outside the door, sometimes she would even have Keeli sit in there with her. She was afraid of drowning.

Piper wasn’t the only one growing up quickly, Xavier was too. While Piper looked like her mother, Xavier took after me with red hair and green eyes. He was a curious little explorer and loved to crawl under furniture and into small spaces.

I was getting closer to Piper which resulted in her confiding in me. She tended to complain about school a lot, and being afraid of water, she tended to complain that all of her friends were going swimming and she couldn’t.

Nothing felt as warm and wonderful as getting a hug from your child. Piper really looked up to me and always told me how much she bragged about her daddy being a fire fighter and saving lives.

I had taken to parenthood even more now that I was older. I somehow felt more prepared. I loved playing with my kids and being a part of their upbringing. They also seemed to love spending time with me.

I even taught Xavier how to talk. Keeli was very attached and insistant on teaching all of the children’s basic skills, but I practically begged to teach him. I’m proud to say that his first word was “Dada”

Piper spent a lot of time chatting with her friend, Tamara. I really felt like we had a teenager trapped in a child’s body most of the time. They would chat for hours on end.

Keeli used most of her time to work on assignments for work that she had been missing while staying at home with the kids. I could tell that she really missed being at work.

Keeli would stay up working late into the night, so it was my job to make sure the kids got bathed and put to bed. I tucked each of them in and gave them goodnight kisses. When my kisses and goodnights were returned it left me with a good warm feeling.

With all the stresses of parenthood and work, however, I felt that Keeli and I’s marriage was losing some spark. Our kisses seemed a little less passionate and our love making seemed almost robotic as if just going through the motions most of the time.

I came home one day a few weeks later with good news.

“I got the promotion!”

Keeli squealed. “You did?”

“Yep, I’ve been promoted to Chief.”

“Congratulations, Daddy!” Piper said.

“I’m so proud of you.” Keeli smiled.

“Dada!” Xavier chimed in.

I smiled to myself. I had a great family.

The very first day on the job as chief we had a huge fire at Dr. Wilson’s house. I had to go in. One whole half of his house was consumed and I thought I had gotten everybody out, but as soon as Dr. Wilson was out I waited outside for a bit.

“I’m sorry, Jeb, we are going to have to let the house go.”

“But, my wife! She’s still in there!” He called.

I knew it was against my better judgement, but I couldn’t let a civilian perish. Even though my fellow fire fighers called for me not to go back in. I had to, so I braved the flames.